The forceful
activating impulse of wrong desire is the greatest enemy to the
happiness of man. Roam in the world as a lion of self-control;
see that the frogs of weakness don't kick you around."
The devotee is finally freed from all instinctive compulsions. He
transforms his need for human affection into aspiration for God
alone, a love solitary because omnipresent.
Sri Yukteswar's mother lived in the Rana Mahal district of Benares
where I had first visited my guru. Gracious and kindly, she was
yet a woman of very decided opinions. I stood on her balcony one
day and watched mother and son talking together. In his quiet,
sensible way, Master was trying to convince her about something.
He was apparently unsuccessful, for she shook her head with great
vigor.
"Nay, nay, my son, go away now! Your wise words are not for me! I
am not your disciple!"
Sri Yukteswar backed away without further argument, like a scolded
child. I was touched at his great respect for his mother even in
her unreasonable moods. She saw him only as her little boy, not as a
sage. There was a charm about the trifling incident; it supplied
a sidelight on my guru's unusual nature, inwardly humble and
outwardly unbendable.
The monastic regulations do not allow a swami to retain connection
with worldly ties after their formal severance. He cannot perform
the ceremonial family rites which are obligatory on the householder.
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